Brin: More privacy rights stripped away by the Fed Govt....
Dr. Brin, I thought you might find this interesting considering some of your recent posts concerning privacy, government and rights... This is an interesting and somewhat perplexing development in the rights to use private domain registrations with .US domains. As of Jan 6, 2006, one cannot use a private registration for .US domains. See letter below from GoDaddy. I personally don't have any .US domains, but I do have several .COM's that I have elected to use private registrations for. For those not familiar... Private registrations allow one to register a domain and use a proxy company as the registrant. If you look up my children's domains, the registration information is listed as Domains By Proxy, but yet I keep full ownership and control of the domain. This is strictly a safety and privacy issue to keep weirdoes and strangers from being able to easily track down the location of me or my kids. It also has the added benefit of reducing SPAM. I am a little perplexed as to why they chose to only specify .US domains and not any of the other extensions, also, this was unnecessary as the proxy companies still have valid contact information for domain owners as well as credit card numbers, mailing addresses and email addresses. It would be no more or less difficult to track someone through the proxy company as it would the domain registrar. My guess is that .COM's, .NET's and all of the other domain extensions will be next... Letter from Go Daddy Dear Valued Go Daddy Customer, Today I have the unfortunate responsibility of informing you that there has been a decision made by bureaucrats of a Federal agency that takes away your right to privacy as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. This decision was unilaterally made by the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) www.ntia.doc.gov http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ without hearings that would determine the impact on those affected, and delivered without notice - in short, the NTIA decision was made without due process of any kind. This is exactly how our government is not supposed to work. The effect of this decision is to disallow new private domain name registrations on .US domain names. In addition, if you already own a private .US domain name registration, you will be forced to forfeit your privacy no later than January 26, 2006. By that time, you will need to choose between either making your personal information available to anyone who wants to see it, or giving up your right to that domain name. I personally find it ironic that our right to .US privacy was stripped away, without due process, by a federal government agency - an agency that should be looking out for our individual rights. For the NTIA to choose the .US extension is the ultimate slap in your face. .US is the only domain name that is specifically intended for Americans (and also those who have a physical presence in our great country). So think about this for a moment. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy that you're entitled to as an American, on the only domain name that says that you are an American. I am outraged by this - you should be also. If, like me, you are outraged at the NTIA's decision to strip away our constitutional right to privacy, www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US will provide you with a petition to sign. (Only your name will be published, your address and email information will be kept private.) This Web site also provides a very easy way for you to send either a fax or an email, expressing your outrage, to your Congressperson and Senators. This is all provided at no cost to you. All that is required is for you to take the time to visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US sign the petition, and send the fax or email to your legislators. On my personal Blog, www.BobParsons.com http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/blogredirect.asp?isc=GDG0329US there are a number of articles where you can learn more about the NTIA's unfortunate decision and what you can do to help get it reversed. I also will be talking about our right to privacy on Radio Go Daddy, our weekly radio show that debuts today, March 30, at 7 PM PST. To find out how to listen in, please visit the Web site dedicated to the show, www.RadioGoDaddy.com http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/radio.asp?isc=GDG0329US . You can be sure that I, and everyone at GoDaddy.com, will do everything in our power to get the NTIA decision reversed. However, we need your help. Please visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US to sign the petition and express your feelings to your Congressperson and Senators. Sincerely, http://imagesak.godaddy.com/promos/htmlemails/Bob_Sig.gif Bob Parsons President and Founder GoDaddy.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Brin: More privacy rights stripped away by the Fed Govt....
--- Gary Nunn, Interesting I shall ask around about this at CFP Meanwhile thrive! db Dr. Brin, I thought you might find this interesting considering some of your recent posts concerning privacy, government and rights... This is an interesting and somewhat perplexing development in the rights to use private domain registrations with .US domains. As of Jan 6, 2006, one cannot use a private registration for .US domains. See letter below from GoDaddy. I personally don't have any .US domains, but I do have several .COM's that I have elected to use private registrations for. For those not familiar... Private registrations allow one to register a domain and use a proxy company as the registrant. If you look up my children's domains, the registration information is listed as Domains By Proxy, but yet I keep full ownership and control of the domain. This is strictly a safety and privacy issue to keep weirdoes and strangers from being able to easily track down the location of me or my kids. It also has the added benefit of reducing SPAM. I am a little perplexed as to why they chose to only specify .US domains and not any of the other extensions, also, this was unnecessary as the proxy companies still have valid contact information for domain owners as well as credit card numbers, mailing addresses and email addresses. It would be no more or less difficult to track someone through the proxy company as it would the domain registrar. My guess is that .COM's, .NET's and all of the other domain extensions will be next... Letter from Go Daddy Dear Valued Go Daddy Customer, Today I have the unfortunate responsibility of informing you that there has been a decision made by bureaucrats of a Federal agency that takes away your right to privacy as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. This decision was unilaterally made by the National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) www.ntia.doc.gov http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ without hearings that would determine the impact on those affected, and delivered without notice - in short, the NTIA decision was made without due process of any kind. This is exactly how our government is not supposed to work. The effect of this decision is to disallow new private domain name registrations on .US domain names. In addition, if you already own a private .US domain name registration, you will be forced to forfeit your privacy no later than January 26, 2006. By that time, you will need to choose between either making your personal information available to anyone who wants to see it, or giving up your right to that domain name. I personally find it ironic that our right to .US privacy was stripped away, without due process, by a federal government agency - an agency that should be looking out for our individual rights. For the NTIA to choose the .US extension is the ultimate slap in your face. .US is the only domain name that is specifically intended for Americans (and also those who have a physical presence in our great country). So think about this for a moment. These bureaucrats stripped away the privacy that you're entitled to as an American, on the only domain name that says that you are an American. I am outraged by this - you should be also. If, like me, you are outraged at the NTIA's decision to strip away our constitutional right to privacy, www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US will provide you with a petition to sign. (Only your name will be published, your address and email information will be kept private.) This Web site also provides a very easy way for you to send either a fax or an email, expressing your outrage, to your Congressperson and Senators. This is all provided at no cost to you. All that is required is for you to take the time to visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US sign the petition, and send the fax or email to your legislators. On my personal Blog, www.BobParsons.com http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/blogredirect.asp?isc=GDG0329US there are a number of articles where you can learn more about the NTIA's unfortunate decision and what you can do to help get it reversed. I also will be talking about our right to privacy on Radio Go Daddy, our weekly radio show that debuts today, March 30, at 7 PM PST. To find out how to listen in, please visit the Web site dedicated to the show, www.RadioGoDaddy.com http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/radio.asp?isc=GDG0329US . You can be sure that I, and everyone at GoDaddy.com, will do everything in our power to get the NTIA decision reversed. However, we need your help. Please visit www.TheDangerOfNoPrivacy.com http://www.thedangerofnoprivacy.com/?isc=GDG0329US to sign the petition and express your feelings to your Congressperson and Senators.
Weekly Chat Reminder
As Steve said, The Brin-L weekly chat has been a list tradition for over six years. Way back on 27 May, 1998, Marco Maisenhelder first set up a chatroom for the list, and on the next day, he established a weekly chat time. We've been through several servers, chat technologies, and even casts of regulars over the years, but the chat goes on... and we want more recruits! Whether you're an active poster or a lurker, whether you've been a member of the list from the beginning or just joined today, we would really like for you to join us. We have less politics, more Uplift talk, and more light-hearted discussion. We're non-fattening and 100% environmentally friendly... -(_() Though sometimes marshmallows do get thrown. The Weekly Brin-L chat is scheduled for Wednesday 3 PM Eastern/2 PM Central time in the US, or 7 PM Greenwich time. There's usually somebody there to talk to for at least eight hours after the start time. If you want to attend, it's really easy now. All you have to do is send your web browser to: http://wtgab.demon.co.uk/~brinl/mud/ ..And you can connect directly from William's new web interface! My instruction page tells you how to log on, and how to talk when you get in: http://www.brin-l.org/brinmud.html It also gives a list of commands to use when you're in there. In addition, it tells you how to connect through a MUD client, which is more complicated to set up initially, but easier and more reliable than the web interface once you do get it set up. -- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ This message was sent automatically using cron. But even if WTG is away on holiday, at least it shows the server is still up. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: reality glitches
Alan Ackley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Everyone, David Brin mailed me the contact info for this mailing list group a few days back, Welcome to the list! I had a weird reality glitch reminiscent of the Matrix movie; Last month I visited Westaff, a temp agency I used to work for, at 29th Valmont where they had been for a decade. (snip) I went in there yesterday and they weren't there, there was instead a construction company in that suite. I called Westaff on the phone later to find out where they had moved and they said they had moved FIVE YEARS AGO!!! (snip story of magical self-healing plastic bag) So, what do you think? Local bubble? Another universe? Matrix glitch? Have you been out walking in the fog? There was a Larry Niven short story about how fog can act as a boundary between universes (allowing the main character to get rich by inventing the stapler). Did you find out how long the construction company was in that suite? Perhaps last month the temp agency finally closed their office, after having two offices open for years. Also, don't discount the possiblity of other actors beside yourself. Maybe your roommate or someone changed the bag in your pocket as a favor. Is anyone else using the bikes? Was it the same bike? You said there were two. Maybe you switched to the non-torn bike without realizing it? There's also the possibility that you changed the bag yourself, and then purged that memory. -- Matt ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Another case of Skiffy precience
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/30mar_moonfountains.htm?list1119125 It's astonishing how prophetic some science fiction has been. Back in 1956, two years before NASA was even created, Hal Clement wrote a short story called Dust Rag published in Astounding Science Fiction, about two astronauts descending into a crater on the Moon to investigate a mysterious haze dimming stars near the lunar horizon. After discarding a wild guess that they were seeing traces of a lunar atmosphere--gases don't behave that way--they figured it had to be dust somehow suspended above the ground. In a conversation remarkable for its scientific prescience, one of the astronauts explains: .The [Moon's] surface material is one of the lousiest imaginable electrical conductors, so the dust normally on the surface picks up and keeps a charge. And what, dear student, happens to particles carrying like electrical charges? They are repelled from each other. Head of the class. And if a hundred-kilometer circle with a rim a couple of [kilometers] high is charged all over, what happens to the dust lying on it? The answer, given only by narrative description, is that electrostatic charging caused the dust to levitate. Well, guess what? Writer Clement was righter than he knew. It appears lunar dust does levitate above the Moon's surface because of electrostatic charging. And the first evidence came almost the way Clement had described. In the early 1960s before Apollo 11, several early Surveyor spacecraft that soft-landed on the Moon returned photographs showing an unmistakable twilight glow low over the lunar horizon persisting after the sun had set. Moreover, the distant horizon between land and sky did not look razor-sharp, as would have been expected in a vacuum where there was no atmospheric haze. But most amazing of all, Apollo 17 astronauts orbiting the Moon in 1972 repeatedly saw and sketched what they variously called bands, streamers or twilight rays for about 10 seconds before lunar sunrise or lunar sunset. Such rays were also reported by astronauts aboard Apollo 8, 10, and 15. Here on Earth we see something similar: crepuscular rays. These are shafts of sunlight and shadow cast by irregular clouds at sunrise or sunset. Perhaps the Moon's twilight rays are caused by clouds of moondust. Many planetary scientists in the 1970s thought so, and some of them wrote papers to that effect (see the more information box at the end of this story for references). But without an atmosphere, how could dust hover far above the Moon's surface? Even if temporarily kicked up by, say, a meteorite impact, wouldn't dust particles rapidly settle back onto the ground? Well, no--at least not according to the dynamic fountain model for lunar dust recently proposed by Timothy J. Stubbs, Richard R. Vondrak, and William M. Farrell of the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The Moon seems to have a tenuous atmosphere of moving dust particles, Stubbs explains. We use the word 'fountain' to evoke the idea of a drinking fountain: the arc of water coming out of the spout looks static, but we know the water molecules are in motion. In the same way, individual bits of moondust are constantly leaping up from and falling back to the Moon's surface, giving rise to a dust atmosphere that looks static but is composed of dust particles in constant motion. You can get some hands-on experience with the fountain model ... on top of your head. Rub an inflated balloon on your hair, and then hold the balloon a few inches away. Your hair will rise of its own accord to reach out toward the balloon. Rubbing the balloon removes some of the electrons from your hair, leaving your hair with a net positive charge. Your positively charged hair is attracted to the negatively charged balloon. Now watch what happens when you hold the balloon far away. This is key: Your individual hairs spread out from one another and do not immediately fall back to lie flat on your head. What's happened? When the balloon was removed, each positively charged hair repels its positively charged neighbor and some of your hair remains suspended--just like dust on the Moon. On the Moon, there is no rubbing. The dust is electrostatically charged by the Sun in two different ways: by sunlight itself and by charged particles flowing out from the Sun (the solar wind). On the daylit side of the Moon, solar ultraviolet and X-ray radiation is so energetic that it knocks electrons out of atoms and molecules in the lunar soil. Positive charges build up until the tiniest particles of lunar dust (measuring 1 micron and smaller) are repelled from the surface and lofted anywhere from meters to kilometers high, with the smallest particles reaching the highest altitudes, Stubbs explains. Eventually they fall back toward the surface where the process is repeated over and over again. If that's what
Contract with America
I've been looking for ways that Democrats could reach out rhetorically, using surprise and jiu jitsu. One that occurred to me seemed tasty... have a fresh look at Newt Gingrich's Contract With America. Why have the democrats done nothing about re-examining the Contract, 10 years later? In just ONE decade, the GOP leadership in Congress has become vastly more corrupt than the democrats managed in six. Its procedures more unfair and its processes far more abused. Might it be effective to show how, line by line, the promises in the Contract were broken? Have a look at http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html Of course, Dems couldn't simply adopt it whole cloth. About 1/4 of the items in the Contract are right wing drivel or else pure beneficial klepto-stuff to benefit a few rich frat brothers. Another 1/4 has already been done and is non-issue. Welfare reform happened. Live with it. But about half the items are so totally ironic. Democrats could make real waves by simply adopting those items and saying Good idea. But you lied and never delivered. We will. I was sent down this path by THE LOST ART OF DEMOCRATIC NARRATIVE. Story Time by Robert B. Reich http://www.tnr.com/showBio.mhtml?pid=710 That article is also well worth perusing. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
